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Sociolinguistics

An introduction to sociolinguisticLanguage is an important part of our individual identity and private experience.

what is sociolinguist?Is concerned with the relationship between language and the context in which it is used

Sociolinguists' studies:

- They study the relationship between language and society- They interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social context- They examining the way people use language in different social context

*the way people talk is influenced by the social context in which they are talking*it matters who can hear us and where we are talking as well as how we are feeling

Why we use language-we use language to ask for and give people information- We use language to express indignation and annoyance as well as admiration and respect. (That means one utterance will simultaneously convey both information and express feelings …for example: Ray utterance)(Not only tells his mother why he is late, his choice of word also tells her how he feels about the teacher and tells us something about his relationship with his mother, which is friendly)

What are the reasons for choosing a particular form?Because languages provide a variety of ways of saying the same things

-Addressing - describing things

-greetings other. –paying compliments

In addition, the final choice reflects factors such as the relationship between the people in the particular situation, and how the speaker feels about the person addressed (I.E 3)

*so linguistic variation can provide social information

*the different types of linguistic variation used to express and reflect social factors:

- Vocabulary. –sounds, word structure

-Grammar (syntax) - the choice of ways of expression:-

1-Different linguistic styles use in different social context

2-Different dialects of a language

- Topic of discussion (switch)

* Then we have all the linguistic variation: words, pronunciation differences, vocabulary choice, and grammatical variation so the linguistic variation involves two dialects. For example (the Ranamal, Bokmal)

Reasons for the choice of one dialect rather than another:1) The some kind of social considerations.2) The participants.3) The social setting4) Topic or purpose of the interaction.

Variety or code:

A broad term, which includes different accents, different linguistic style, different dialects and even different languages, which contract with each other for social reasons.

* Example 7 illustrate the rang of linguistic variation which can be observed in different speech communities. People may use different pronunciations, vocabulary, grammar or style of language for different propose. They may use different dialects of a language in different context.And in some communities they will select different languages according to the situation in which they are speaking.

* The social factors, which relevant in accounting for the particular variety used:

1-to identify clearly the linguistic variation involved (e.g: vocabulary – sound – dialects- language) 2-to identify clearly the different social or non-linguistic factors which lead speakers to use one form rather than another (e.g: features relating to participant, setting or function of the interaction)

Linguistics Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. It also studies how lects differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, economic status, gender, level of education, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social class or socio-economic classes. As the usage of a language varies from place to place (dialect), language usage varies among social classes, and it is these ''sociolects'' that sociolinguistics studies. For example, a sociolinguist might determine through study of social attitudes that Black English Vernacular would not be considered appropriate language use in a business or professional setting; he or she might also study the grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, and other aspects of this sociolect much as a dialectologist would study the same for a regional dialect. The study of language variation is concerned with social constraints determining language in its contextual social environment. Code-switching is the term given to the use of different varieties of language in different social situations. William Labov is often regarded as the founder of the study of !sociolinguistics.Sociolinguist ics? differs from sociology of language in that the focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language, while the latter's focus is on the language's effect on the society.

In linguistics, diglossia is a situation where, in a given society, there are two (often) closely-related languages, one of high prestige, which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is usually the spoken vernacular tongue. The high-prestige language tends to be the more formalised, and its forms and vocabulary often 'filter down' into the vernacular, though often in a changed form.The French languageFrench term ''diglossie'' was first coined (as a translation of Greek languageGreek διγλωσσία, 'bilingualism') by the Greek linguist and demoticist Ioannis Psycharis. The Arabist William Marçais used the term in 1930 to describe the linguistic situation in Arabic languageArabic-speaking countries. In Charles Ferguson's article "Diglossia" in the journal ''Word'' (1959), diglossia was described as a kind of bilingualism in a given society in which one of the languages is (H), i.e. has high prestige, and another of the languages is (L), i.e. has low prestige. In Ferguson's definition, (H) and (L) are always closely related. Fishman also talks about diglossia with unrelated languages: "extended diglossia" (Fishman 1967), for example Sanskrit as (H) and Kannada as (L) or Alsatian languageAlsatian (Elsässisch) in Alsace as (L) and French languageFrench as (H). Kloss calls the (H) variant ''exoglossia'' and the (L) variant ''endoglossia''.In some cases, the nature of the connection between (H) and (L) is disputed; for example, Jamaican Creole as (L) and Standard English languageEnglish as (H) in Jamaica.(H) is usually the written language whereas (L) is the spoken language. In formal situations, (H) is used; in informal situations, (L) is used.The (L) variants are not just simplifications of the (H) variants. Many (L) languages have certain features that are more complex than the corresponding (H) languages: some Swiss German dialects have IPA/e/ , IPA/ɛ/ and IPA/æ/ while Standard German only has IPA/e/ and IPA/ɛ/ . Jamaican Creole has fewer vowel phonemes than standard Englishes, but it has additional palatal IPA/kʲ/ and IPA/ɡʲ/ phonemes.Especially in endoglossia the (L) form may also be called "basilect", the (H) form "acrolect", and an intermediate form "mesolect". Note however that there is no "mesolect" in German languageGerman-speaking Switzerland and in Luxembourg. Whether Paraguay has a form of diglossia is controversial. Guaraní and Spanish are both official languages of Paraguay. Some scholars argue that there are Paraguayans who actually don't speak Guaraní. See Guaraní language. The Chinese language also offers an interesting case.Ferguson's classic examples include Standard German/Swiss German, Standard Arabic languageArabic/vernacular Arabic, Standard French/Kréyòl in Haiti, and Katharevousa/Modern GreekDhimotiki in Greece. However, Kréyòl is now recognised as a standard language in Haiti. Swiss German dialects are hardly languages with low prestige in Switzerland; and colloquial Arabic has more prestige in some respects than standard Arabic nowadays (see Chambers, Sociolinguistic Theory). And after the end of the military regime, Dhimotiki was made into Greece's only standard language (1976). Nowadays, Katharevousa is no longer used. Harold Schiffman writes about Swiss German: "it seems to be the case that Swiss German was once consensually agreed to be in a diglossic hierarchy with Standard German, but that this consensus is now breaking." There is also a lot of code switching especially in the Arabic world; according to Andrew Freeman this is "different from Ferguson's description of diglossia which states that the two forms are in complementary distribution." To a certain extent, there is code switching and overlap in all diglossic societies, even German-speaking Switzerland. Furthermore, in Ferguson's definition, diglossia is not bilingualism; however this depends on the scholar's definition of language. For example, different kinds of Arabic are not mutually intelligible; even though many are, but this may also be due to exposure to different varieties rather than inherent linguistic properties.Examples where the High/Low dichotomy is justified in terms of social prestige include Italian languageItalian dialects as (L) and Standard Italian as (H) in Italy and German dialects and standard German in Germany. In Italy and Germany, those speakers who still speak dialects typically use dialect in informal situations, especially in the family. In German-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, Swiss German dialects are to a certain extent even used in schools and to a larger extent in churches. Ramseier calls German-speaking Switzerland's diglossia a "medial diglossia", whereas Felicity Rash prefers "functional diglossia". Paradoxically, Swiss German offers both the best example for diglossia (all speakers are native speakers of Swiss German and thus diglossic) and the worst, because there is no clear-cut hierarchy.

A dialect (from the Greek languageGreek word διάλεκτος, ''dialektos'') is a variety (linguistics)variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. The number of speakers, and the area itself, can be of wiktionary:arbitraryarbitrary size. It follows that a dialect for a larger area can contain plenty of (sub-) dialects, which in turn can contain dialects of yet smaller areas, et cetera.A dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or sign languagesigned but not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and/or grammar. The concept of dialects can be distinguished from:— • sociolects, which are a variety of a language spoken by a certain social stratum, • standard languages, which are standardized for public performance (e.g. written standard), and • jargons, which are characterized by differences in vocabulary (or lexicon according to linguist jargon).Varieties of language such as dialects, idiolects and sociolects can be distinguished not only by their vocabulary and grammar, but also by differences in phonology (including prosody (linguistics)prosody). If the distinctions are limited to phonology, one often uses the term ''accent (linguistics)accent of a variety'' instead of ''variety'' or ''dialect.''

Standard and Non-standard Dialects - A standard dialect (also known as a standardized dialect or "standard language") is a dialect that is supported by institutions. Such institutional support may include government recognition or designation; presentation as being the "correct" form of a language in schools; published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a "correct" spoken and written form; and an extensive formal literature that employs that dialect (prose, poetry, nonfiction, etc.). There may be multiple standard dialects associated with a language. For example, Standard American English, Standard British English, and Standard Indian English may all be said to be standard dialects of the English language.A nonstandard dialect, like a standard dialect, has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but is not the beneficiary of institutional support.

The term multilingualism can refer to rather different phenomena. LinguisticsSociolinguists distinguish: • multilingualism at the personal level • multilingualism at the societal level • multilingualism at the interaction level

Stereotypes in culture - Stereotypes are common in the world of drama, where the term is often used as a form of dramatic shorthand for "stock character". In literature and art, stereotypes are clicheclichéd or predictable characters or situations. For example, the stereotypical devil is a red, impish character with horns and a pitchfork (actually a trident), whilst the stereotypical salesman is a slickly-dressed, fast-talking individual who cannot usually be trusted. The Italian Commedia Dell'arte was known for its stock characters and stock situations, which could be considered drama stereotypes. Throughout history, storytellers have drawn from stereotypical characters and situations, in order to quickly connect the audience with new tales. Sometimes such stereotypes can be very complex and sophisticated, such as Shakespeare's Shylock in ''The Merchant of Venice''.The instantly recognisable nature of stereotypes mean that they are very useful in producing effective advertising and situation comedy. Media stereotypes change and evolve over time - for instance, we now instantly recognise only a few of the stereotyped characters shown to us in John Bunyan's ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', and the stereotypical 1970s effete gay man depicted by John Inman in ''Are You Being Served?'' is rarely seen in the media today and may even completely baffle young viewers in future decades.

A lingua franca is any language widely used beyond its native speakers, primarily for international commerce but extending to other cultural exchanges, such as diplomacy. The origin of the term lingua franca is Italian languageItalian (literally "Frankish language"), derived from the medieval Arab and Muslim use of "Franks" (ancient Germanic peoplesGermanic people) as a generic term for Europeans during the period of the Crusades.Originally "lingua franca" referred to a mix of mostly Italian with a broad vocabulary drawn from Turkish languageTurkish, Persian languagePersian, French languageFrench, Greek languageGreek and Arabic languageArabic. This mixed language (pidgin, creole language) was used for communication throughout the medieval and early modern Middle East as a diplomatic language; the generic description "lingua franca" has since become common for any language used by speakers of different languages to communicate with one another.In an important sense, the terms "lingua franca" and "diplomatic language" remain distinct; the former refers largely to spoken languages which find common use, while the latter is typically limited to common written systems which do not ''directly'' find use among the common public. A prime example is Akkadian languageAkkadian, which (as shown in the Amarna letters,~1350 B.C.) was used for correspondence between Ancient EgyptEgypt and its Canaanite vassals, and neighboring kingdoms, as far away as Babylon. Akkadian, being one of the first "diplomatic languages", contained Sumerograms, from Sumer, the sumerogram being many hundreds of years older, from the beginning of written language. This diplomatic-level communication would, over time, serve language (hence cultural) transculturation, eventually developing the Greek alphabetGreek and Roman alphabetRoman writing systems, that we currently use today.

Languages which have served as a ''lingua franca'' - During the Roman Empire and for the following millennium the ''lingua franca'' was Greek languageGreek in the east and Latin in the west. The French language also served as ''lingua franca'' later on. French was the language of diplomacy in Europe from the 17th century until its very recent replacement by English, and as a result is still the working language of international institutions and is seen on documents ranging from passports to airmail letters. French was also the language used among the educated in cosmopolitain cities in North Africa such as Cairo, Egypt around the turn of the century until WWII. German languageGerman served as a ''lingua franca'' in portions of Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, especially in business, politics, science (physics), and sociology. English languageEnglish is the current ''lingua franca'' of Western international business and has also displaced French in diplomacy since World War II, a trend arguably ignited by the conduct of French- and respectively English-speaking nations during the war (the de facto status of ''lingua franca'' is usually "awarded" by the masses to the language of the most respected and influential nation(s) of the time), and certainly influenced by the massive anglophonic cultural exports from the United States (movies and music).In other regions of the world, other languages perform the function of a ''lingua franca'': Portuguese languagePortuguese served as ''lingua franca'' in Africa and Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries. Swahili in East Africa, Russian languageRussian in areas formerly associated with the Soviet Union, German languageGerman in much of Eastern Europe until after World War II, Hindustani languageHindustani (along with English) in India, Malay languageMalay in South-East Asia, Bislama in the Pacific Islands, and various Pidgin languages in other locations and times. Until the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Classical Chinese served as both a ''lingua franca'' and diplomatic language for Far East Asia, used by China, Korea, Japan, the Ryukyus, and Vietnam in interstate communications. Currently, among most Chinese speaking communities, Mandarin Chinese serves the function of providing a common spoken language between speakers of different and mutually unintelligible Chinese dialects. In Switzerland, which has four different official languages, English serves as a lingua franca with citizens and the relatively high (20%) foreign population.''See also'': international auxiliary language

In a specific sense - Lingua Franca meaning "Frankish language" was an early language, used in the Mediterranean area from the 14th century or earlier and still in use in the 20th century. Lingua Franca was known by Mediterranean sailors including the Portuguese. When the Portuguese started exploring the seas of Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, they tried to communicate with the natives by mixing a Portuguese-influenced version of Lingua Franca with the local languages. When English or French ships came to compete with the Portuguese, the crew tried to learn this "broken Portuguese". Through a process of change the Lingua Franca and Portuguese wordstock was substituted by the languages of the people in contact.Polari, the gay cant (language)cant slang in 1950s-1960s United KingdomBritain, derives partly from Lingua Franca.

Expert A Pidgin, or contact language, is the name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different tongues. Pidgins have rudimentary grammars and restricted vocabulary, serving as international auxiliary languageauxiliary contact languages. They are improvised rather than learned natively.Jiggery can develop to become creole languages. This requires the pidgin to be learned natively by children, who then generalize the features of the pidgin into a fully-formed, stabilized grammar (see Nicaraguan Sign Language). At this stage the language is no longer a pidgin, as it has acquired the full complexity of a human language, and becomes a creole. Often creoles can then replace the existing mix of languages to become the native language of the current community (such as Krio in Sierra Leone and Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea). However, pidgins do not always become creoles—they can die out or become obsolete.The concept originated in Europe among the merchants and traders in the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages, who used ''Lingua franca'' (also named Sabir languageSabir). Another well-known pidgin is the ''Beach-la-Mar'' of the South Seas, based on English languageEnglish but incorporating Malay languageMalay, Chinese languageChinese, and Portuguese languagePortuguese words. Bislama, as it is now called in Vanuatu, is fairly mutually intelligible with Tok Pisin.Caribbean pidgins are the result of colonialism. As tropical islands were colonised their society was restructured, with a ruling minority of some European nation and a large mass of non-European laborers. The laborers, natives, slaves or cheap immigrant workers, would often come from many different language groups and would need to communicate. This led to the development of pidgins.The creation of a pidgin usually requires: • Prolonged, regular contact between the different language communities • A need to communicate between them • An absence of (or absence of widespread proficiency in) a widespread, accessible interlanguage.Spanglish is not a Pidgin, it is a code switching because it shares vocabulary rather than inventing a new one.

For the languages, see Creole language''The term ''Creole'' is used with different meanings in different contexts, which can generate confusion. Generally it refers to a people or a culture that is distinctive or local to a region, but with various additional shades of meaning.

Development of a Creole - While the uses of the words "creole" and "pidgin" usually mix when referring to trade languages, linguists consider them two separate categories. Creoles are categorized as a bridge in langage development between a pidgin and a language. When a simple form of communication is created by combining and simplifying the traits of two or more languages, a pidgin is created. Pidgins have no native speakers and usually have no standard pronounciation, vocabulary, or grammar. A creole is the next step up from a pidgin, having native speakers, and a somewhat standardized yet simple vocabulary and word order. Creoles can become their own language, as with Old English, which merged the dialects and languages of Northern Germany and Scandanavia. This also happened with Tok Pisin, which has become a pidgin, creole, and now a language in a period of 90 years. Creoles can remain as a sort of second, local standard, like the Haitian creole, or they can be absorbed into the local dialect, which has happened in Latin America and a little in Hawai'i.

Latin American Creole - In most of Latin America ''Creole'' (Spanish languageSpanish, ''criollo'', Portuguese languagePortuguese, ''crioulo'') generally refers to people of unmixed Spanish peopleSpanish or Portuguese peoplePortuguese descent born in the New World. In Brazil, though, the word is a pejorative slang for a blacksblack individual.Throughout the Spanish colonization of the Americascolonial history of Latin America, the Spanish caste system made distinction between ''criollos'' and the higher-ranking and governing ''peninsulares'', despite both being of pure Spanish ancestry — the only distinction being that the latter were born on the Iberian Peninsula, hence the name. This formed a discontented ''criollo'' underclass that, together with the support of the other decreasing-in-rank underclasses — castizo, mestizo, mulatto, amerindian, zambo and ultimately black Slaveryslaves — impelled the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821) and the South American Wars of Independence (1810–1825) against Spain, culminating in the establishment of republics throughout the former Spanish Empire. In Brazil, a very different process occurred, independence largely being granted without major war, and the relationship between unmixed Portuguese and Mestizo#Latin America mestiços kept mostly peaceful. Unlike in Spanish America, a Brazilian Empire Brazilian monarchy directly connected to the Portuguese monarchy was established. Those unmixed Portuguese born in Portugal living in Brazil were deemed ''galegos'' (literally Galicia (Spain)Galicians, in reference to the northern Portuguese origin of most, but also used on those born in south Portugal).

Creolization is a process through which a simplified contact language becomes a fully developed native language, that is, a pidgin language becomes a creole language. The first process is referred to as ''pidginization'', the second is ''creolization'', notions used in contact-linguistics. There may be a stage after creolization called !''decreolization''.;Pidginizat ion:? Pidgin is a language that has no native speakers. It develops as three or more different languages (different peoples) interact mostly for the sake of trade. If there are three peoples, three languages one of which is dominant the inferior languages must still interact because they not only trade with the dominant people but also with each other. In this case they must simplify the dominant language so that they can speak in their low-class situation. For example on an island (Haiti, Hawaii). This "new" pidgin (contact) language will contain features from all the base languages. They will blend both grammatically and functionally. Though both its vocabulary and grammar is reduced as opposed to the base languages (Holm (1988) 4-5). At this stage it is not a fully developed language yet. ;Creolization: This is the second stage where the pidgin language develops into a fully developed language that is a creole language. This will be the mother-tongue for many people. The creolization process happens because people, especially children, using a pidgin develop native capacity (Noam Chomsky) in it therefore the structure of it changes as time goes on. It is a normal language with all the criteria a language needs. The morphology and syntax of the creole is richer than the pidgin's, its phonolgy has set rules and the functions in which the creole is used is increased. The vocabulary will contain more and more words according to a rational and stable system (Wardhaugh 56-57). ;Post-creole continuum/decreolization: The post-creole continuum comes into being when the process of decreolization begins, namely, if a society has two official languages, a 'crole Y' and a 'standard Y' and the standard has a great effect on the creole. In this case speakers of the creole start correcting their language according to the standard. Then a large scale of varieties can be observed. The Guayanaian varieties of the English sentence ''I told him'':1. aɪ tɔuld hɪm 1-3. middle-class use, acrolectic forms2. aɪ toːld hɪm 4-7. lower-middle class use, mesolectic forms 3. aɪ toːl ɪm 8. workers of the countryside use, basilectic form4. aɪ tɛl ɪm 9. elderly, illiterate village workers use, basilectic form5. a tɛl ɪm 6. aɪ tɛl ɪ7. a tel i8. mi tɛl i9. mi tɛl amSometimes it is hard to decide whether a language is a creole or a pidgin. DeCamp mentions some 'pure cases' in his work.

A dialect is a variety of language that is systematically different from other varieties of the same language. The dialects of a single language are mutually intelligible, but when the speakers can no longer understand each other, the dialects become languages. Geographical regions are also considered when dialects become languages. Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish are all considered separate languages because of regular differences in grammar and the countries in which they are spoken, yet Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes can all understand one another. Hindi and Urdu are considered mutually intelligible languages when spoken, yet the writing systems are different. On the other hand, Mandarin and Cantonese are mutually unintelligible languages when spoken, yet the writing systems are the same. A dialect is considered standard if it is used by the upper class, political leaders, in literature and is taught in schools as the correct form of the language. Overt prestige refers to this dominant dialect. A non-standard dialect is associated with covert prestige and is an ethnic or regional dialect of a language. These non-standard dialects are just as linguistically sophisticated as the standard dialect, and judgments to the inferiority of them are based on social or racist judgments. African-American English contains many regular differences of the standard dialect. These differences are the same as the differences among many of the world's dialects. Phonological differences include r and l deletion of words like poor (pa) and all (awe.) Consonant cluster simplification also occurs (passed pronounced like pass), as well as a loss of interdental fricatives. Syntactic differences include the double negative and the loss of and habitual use of the verb "be." He late means he is late now, but he be late means he is always late. A lingua franca is a major language used in an area where speakers of more than one language live that permits communication and commerce among them. English is called the lingua franca of the whole world, while French used to be the lingua franca of diplomacy. A pidgin is a rudimentary language of few lexical items and less complex grammatical rules based on another language. No one learns a pidgin as a native language, but children do learn creoles as a first language. Creoles are defined as pidgins that are adopted by a community as its native tongue. Besides dialects, speakers may use different styles or registers (such as contractions) depending on the context. Slang may also be used in speech, but is not often used in formal situations or writing. Jargon refers to the unique vocabulary pertaining to a certain area, such as computers or medicine. Words or expressions referring to certain acts that are forbidden or frowned upon are considered taboo. These taboo words produce euphemisms, words or phrases that replace the expressions that are being avoided. The use of words may indicate a society's attitude toward sex, bodily functions or religious beliefs, and they may also reflect racism or sexism in a society. Language itself is not racist or sexist, but the society may be. Such insulting words may reinforce biased views, and changes in society may be reflected in the changes in language. the so the more referentially oriented an interaction is, the less it tends to express the feelings of the speaker

the socialinguist amis is to move towards a theory which provides a motivated account of the way language is used in a community and of the choices people make when they use language